Started from renting aroom for esthetics and now owns spa?

I am licensed qualified and experienced in medi spa and day spa services.A qualified esthetician,body care,electrlologist and all non invasive medical skin care services.

The medi spa i work for going out of business.

Really Tired working for others and at this point dreaming to start up my own small solo skin care practice.I am planing to rent newly build salon park suite with few(5-6) followers clienteles.Most of my previous clients are laser hair removal.

The suites building is in a big shopping strip with lots of paking and close to a big Trget,Sally's and other shops around in same pstrip.

I am thinking to start facials and micro derm,chemical peels and skin needling.

I need all your feed back and sugesstions how to promote mysellf in a salon suite since many others are in same facility and offer same services ??

I am so scared to fail and paying rent from pocket with no clients.

How many out there they started from a room and build up the business and they are spa owners now.

How did you start up?and how much you invested to start up?

What was your services menue like?

What eqipments did you have to start up?

IS that good idea to offer some dry body treatments and what are those?

How long it took you to make some money after all expences?

PLEASE share your experiences and sugesstions as many as on this board to get me started.

Any reasonable skin care,products line, equipments and facial bed recommendation ?

I need your valuable suggestions,about the budget,equipments,services and market myself

Would love to hear from you and really appreciate your feed back.

THANKS in advance.

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Permalink Reply by Teresa Escoffery on February 5, 2015 at 11:08am

Good luck to you!

Starting a business it hard, scary and rarely turns out the way you imagined it would

Start with a financial cushion at least 6 months of living (your rent/mortgage, car food, utilities) and operating expenses (rent, utils, advertising. loan repayment on equipment and supplies etc) in the bank and assume you will have 0 customers during that time. If you can manage get your head around that, then you will make it through the first 12-18 months

Whatever you think things will cost, double it. Everything takes twice as long as you think it will (advertising for instance, can take YEARS to make an impression)

How long until you make money? No clue, that is all up to you, your market, your clients and your marketing.

Be ready to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week.

I m not trying to scare you, Im trying to set you up - mentally -- to succeed. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

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Permalink Reply by coldsalineplexus on February 5, 2015 at 6:32pm

Any way you could pool together with other colleagues and keep the med spa in business? I assume the doctor is leaving, but maybe there is another doc in your town who wants to be medical director. I would start there.

If you keep thinking you might rather go solo, start making your pros and cons list. I have been in the midst of a career change myself which included interviewing for several jobs and ultimately deciding to downsize my existing business (downsize from a spa to being a solo esthy again) rather than go back to being employed. Only time will tell how this decision will affect my happiness, wellbeing, and finances, but I am drawn to it because I was truly happy and calm as a solo esthy, and I'd love to get back some of that flow.

If you do decide to go the solo route, even in a saturated area, the only way to get ahead is to provide the best service. I HIGHLY recommend learning some facial shiatsu massage, because even if you are focusing on clinical treatments, you can use those massage manipulations during your cleansing steps and really get people hooked. Also, never try to compete on price. Rather than setting low prices or offering discounts, price yourself medium-high for your area, stick to those prices, and when you need to do something special for a client, throw them a little something nice like a pack of samples or a complimentary brow wax. Remember, when you're solo, it's all about YOU. Make sure you've got a nice, keyword-rich website going, and frequently add to it with little blog posts, short video clips of yourself explaining a product or procedure, etc.

And keep coming back to the board with very specific questions! Those of us who have been through it are happy to help you skip some of our past mistakes <3